# Nails on the Blackboard
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nails-on-the-blackboard/9340
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 29, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nails-on-the-blackboard/9340 "2000-03-29T14:12:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nails-on-the-blackboard/9340/1 "2000-03-29T14:12:00Z")
I’ve heard discussions about this matter before, and I’ve even heard a term for the feeling (“heebie-jeebies”), but I’ll tell you right now: if you wanted to torture me, I think I could more easily deal with (insert you personal horror here) than somebody continually scratching his fingers across a blackboard. Pain is one thing, but that sound erodes my very soul.
Indeed, my aversion to that sound is so profound that I don’t think that I’ll ever take an “adult education” course. Indeed, if I even see a blackboard on TV, I grab the remote so that I have the “mute” button on stand-by.
I have no idea why that sound wants me to slay myself to make it stop. Why on earth would a scraping sound cause me so much pain? I’m serious about this: I would much rather that you stuck a pin in my arm than scrape your nails across a blackboard! I can deal with a bit of pain, but when I hear that sound, it makes the universe seem unbearable.
This is not a joke. I will NOT go into a classroom where there is blackboard, because I am worried that the teacher might inadvertently scrape his or her nails against the blackboard.
Am I nuts? Am I the only person with this affliction?
I sure wish I knew why that sound makes me want to leap out of my skin.
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### Author:  [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nails-on-the-blackboard/9340/2 "2000-03-29T15:22:00Z")
Here is Cecil’s column:
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_317b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_317b.html)